We Are BACK BABY!

We have been on a bit of a break the last couple of months.  Ivan had neuter surgery in December and then we took time to enjoy the holidays together. I included a pic from our Christmas card. Now, we are back and busier than ever and we could not be more excited!

Ivan was supposed to make his first visit to a nursing home last Saturday but the weather didn't cooperate.  We rescheduled it for tomorrow but it isn't looking good.  I am not going to lie- I am a little nervous.  Ivan still gets ovrly excited at times.  The only way I am going to know for sure is to go and find out.  His therapy evaluation was at a nursing home and he did fine. I think he does a pretty good job of gauging his audience.  It is going to take both of us to make this successful.  I will for sure write a blog soon about our experience.

The other exciting news is we may be starting at another school.  I met with the principal of this school earlier this week.  We went over a plan for what he would do with the students.  It will be different than what he does in Jason's classroom.  He would be visiting a special needs classroom and focus more on the #BeLikeIvan aspect.  I am waiting to hear if he has been approved, so more to come on this also.  I made a presentation which would cover expectations for teachers and students.  You can view it here.

Also, I have decided to change up Ivan's Instagram a bit.  Rather than random posts, I am going to try to be more regular with daily posts.  I hope this will also help me be more regular about updating this blog.

Dogs Colorful Day

Today, Ivan and I visited my husbands kindergarten class again and shared the book Dog's Colorful Day and did an activity with the students.  I found the idea on the AKC website- here and ordered the book from Amazon. It went great!  The only tricky part is that I need about one more hand.  It is hard to read the book, hold it so students can see it, hold Ivan and put the dots on him.  Luckily, my husband was there to help me.  I read the book to students and had them say the colors with me as they came up in the book.  I had already cut out the "dots" and put tape on them.  As I read, I stuck them on Ivan.

Then when I was done we took a picture with Ivan (with all his dots) and the class.  One of the students held the book.  I gave the students a sheet with a picture of the white dog from the book and they were instructed to color the dots on the dog.  I put the dots up on the front board so students could see all the colors.  After we were done with the activity, all the students got to come up and pet Ivan.  I used treats to keep Ivan from "kissing" students which worked really well.  I have instructed them to pet him on his back.  He was turned facing me with his back to the students and I kept him occupied with treats.  We also spent a little time showing the students his "tricks" which made me realize we need to work on roll over.  However, they loved seeing him give high 5s.

We had one unexpected visit today.  My husband texted me as I was dropping off my daughter at school and getting ready to head to his school.  He wanted to know if we could visit the special needs classroom.  I didn't have my meet/greet lesson in my bag so I kind of had to wing it (been there/done that!) and talk with students.  I also wasn't sure how my lesson would need to be adjusted for the various special needs.  One important note-this class had already sent home the permission slips to parents and had all been returned.  The visit went good.  Each student was able to pet Ivan 2x, I talked about what was ok and not ok for Ivan, I briefly explained what it meant to be a therapy dog and answered their questions.  We spent about 30 minutes with students.  We plan to visit again and we may try the Dog's Colorful Day lesson.

Therapy Visit #3-learning lots!!

Earlier this week, I was contacted by one of the teachers at the local elementary school.  It was not my daughters school (we are working with the principal of that school to start a program with Ivan) but the other K-5 school.  They needed a therapy dog to visit and talk with a group of students.  This is a group that meets about 2x per month and is focused on pets/animals.  This was Tuesday morning and they needed us to come on Wednesday morning.  Of course I said yes but then I panicked a little.  This would be our third visit as a therapy group and while I knew the teacher and a few of the students involved I was still a little nervous.  I was used to going to my husbands classroom and this was going to be all new. 

I spent Tuesday working up note cards for a brief presentation about Ivan and therapy dogs-what is the difference between therapy, service and emotional support, who is Ivan and some of the ways he helps people.  I also made trader cards for all the students- 45 of them!

We arrived at the school a little early so they had us wait in the reading teachers room.  We chatted a little bit about therapy dogs and I gave her some info about the Platte Pet Power program and the School Therapy Dog Facebook page etc.  People popped in to see Ivan and get/give him some love.  The principal came in and introduced herself.

Finally, we were led into the classroom.  It was a normal classroom but since this was a special group meeting, there were about 2x as many students as normal. There were students in desks and on the floor.  It was a good test for Ivan and he handled it like a champ.  They led us to the front of the room where a chair/area was set up for us.  Let's take a time out right here- this is the first place I realized I should have handled the visit differently.  I am Ivan's advocate so I should have set out some ground rules
1.  We need a clear path to get to the front of the classroom
2.  The classroom/students should be quiet and relaxed. (these students did pretty good with this and it was a big group so I understand the chatter/excitement.)
3.  We need a radius for Ivan to have room to sit/lay down.  (I brought a towel and I should have put it out right away for him.  The students kept inching closer to him.  Again, I understand this but I feel like I need to set up some kind of boundaries for him)
4.  Only one person speaks at a time.  (My friend suggested having something to pass around and if you don't have it in your hand, you are not able to talk.)
5.  I need an assistant-that can be someone I bring with me or someone they assign to me.

The visit went really well but these were just things I thought could have made it go better.  He barked once and it scared some of the kids.  However, I explained that he was barking because they weren't petting him at that time.  I also tried to explain this is part of advocating/understanding Ivan that is an important part of my job.  I need to watch his body language (which includes barking) to know what he is saying.  I knew this was not a mean/mad/worried bark and I explained that to the kids.

The other thing I realized from this visit is that I really need an assistant.  I can't let go of the leash.  When I am trying to hold the leash, keep the students from getting on top of us, watching him for signs of discomfort/nervousness etc it is hard to then also get cards/info out for a discussion, lay out a towel for his space etc.  I was able to do the talk just from memory but it would have been better (I would have felt more prepared) if I could read my notes.

I think the more visits we do the more comfortable we will become.  It is a learning process and overall this was a great visit and I am SO glad we did it.  I needed to step out of my comfort zone a bit to see what we needed to change.  The students were engaged and so excited to meet Ivan.  They asked some great questions!

Thank you to everyone who is reading this- I really thought my mom was the only regular reader so I was super excited when I got a message on Instagram from someone that appreciated the blog. Hopefully our stumbles will help others navigate the therapy dog world.

#BeLikeIvan

Ivan made another visit to Mr U's classroom.  The first visit was more of  a meet and greet so this time I prepared a lesson for the class.  I found a lesson plan idea here- the Allie Project is a great resource for lesson ideas for therapy dogs.  I used the the friendship & differences lesson. 

I didn't find the book suggested (Annie Loses her Leg but Finds Her Way BY Sandra J. Philipson) in paper copy but did find it on YouTube.  I had the teacher show the book to the students before I came in.  I also read them When Charley met Emma and we talked about how being different is ok. Then we talked about how Ivan is very accepting of everyone.  He is kind to everyone no matter how they act, think, look, speak or believe.  We talked about how it is important to #belikeIvan and be kind to our friends and everyone.

I also passed out the trader cards I made for Ivan.  They had a picture of Ivan on the front and a little bit about him on the back.  I am hoping this will serve as a reminder of their time with Ivan and also a reminder to Be Like Ivan.

I try to keep Ivan's Instagram page up to date and I hope to continue to update the #BeLikeIvan hashtag with pictures from his visits.  For now, I will continue to use the Allie website for lesson plan ideas.  Also, keep your fingers crossed, it looks like he will be going to another school and at least working with a small group to start.

One Cool Dood is in the (school) HOUSE!

Ivan finally made it into the classroom last week.  The morning started off a little rocky at home.  I have to remind myself that he may be a therapy dog but he is still a young dog.  He likes to grab our stuff and have us chase him to get it back.  It usually happens at times when I am busy and can't give him 100% attention.  This particular morning, he grabbed one of my footie socks and wanted me to chase him around our bed to get it back.  I did but by the time I was able to catch him...he had swallowed it.  It was a pretty small sock and I decided to cross my fingers and hope he didn't bring it back up in front of the kindergarten class.  (for those concerned-it later passed and he is fine now)

I tell this story because it is funny but also to remind people- your dog doesn't have to be perfect to be a therapy dog.  Ivan LOVES people but also loves being silly at home.  He plays hard and is pretty crazy.  I have read comments on some Facebook pages about therapy dogs where people worry that their dog isn't going to cut it because they aren't perfectly behaved.  Does your dog love people?  Do people love your dog?  You have a good chance of it working out- obviously there is a lot more to it but don't count your dog out if they aren't perfectly behaved.

So, we arrived at the school and we didn't even make it past the office.  Ivan was being loved on from the minute he walked in the door.  He did great.  Did he sit the whole time? No, but he didn't jump and most of the time he did his little army crawl towards people.  When we got to the classroom, I talked a lot about the dos/don'ts with Ivan-don't feed him, stay calm, only I can hold the leash etc.  We shared a book about how to greet dogs and then the students got to come up 2 at a time and pet Ivan. Talk about DOG HEAVEN!  He rolled over on his back for every one of them to get a tummy rub or crawled to them for them to pet him.  He did fantastic!  He was exhausted after and just slept the rest of the day.

We hope to continue visits and work with the counselor at the school to work him into her lessons.  I found a great website with lesson plans that work well for some of the things the counselor talks about.  Check it out http://allieproject.org/lesson-plans/

Stay tuned for more upcoming visits.

Training

Obviously, one of the most important areas in preparing your dog to be a therapy dog, is training.  Based on what we read on the Internet and books, we knew from the beginning we needed to get our dog socialized.  So, even before he started actual training, we had him out in public meeting other people and experiencing the public.  We took him on car rides, to outdoor concerts, short car trips and anywhere he was allowed in public.  I think Ivan has a great personality but I think this helped improve his disposition.

We have an outdoor shopping area not far from us and we have walked Ivan in that area numerous times.  The sidewalks are wide so when we encounter people we have room to let them pass.  Also, on one visit, I noticed that some of the stores have a dog paw sticker on their door that says that dogs are welcome in their store.  We started going into those stores when we visited.  It teaches him to go around objects and encounter people.

As far as formal training, we did a combo of group training and one on one training.  The group training was great because he was able to interact with other dogs and people.  The one on one training has been good for the obvious reason- he gets the trainers full attention.  We also spend time between training, working with Ivan. I purchased a 15 ft leash from Amazon and we practice in a large green space or on a dead end section of road in our neighborhood.  We work on sit, stay, come during those sessions.  I also consider the (almost) daily brushing as training. He has to accept being touched and brushed as part of acceptance to be a therapy dog.  I also have a list of the things Ivan will be tested on for Canine Good Citizenship and we try to go over those regularly.

The first big test to see how he is doing will be next week.  Ivan is trying out for a local therapy dog organization.  The standards are similar to what most require but Ivan does not have to be a year old to participate.  I think he has a pretty good chance but all depends on which Ivan shows up-crazy puppy or mature puppy.  My hope is that this will help get him used to therapy work and I can see if he really enjoys it.  I have a pretty strong feeling that he will love it but I look forward to finding out with him.

We may not go beyond this organization.  This organization in not national but we are covered by insurance on visits and they have a small number of facilities participating.  Through them, he can visit the students in my husbands kindergarten class as long as the school signs the consent form.  They are currently considering the idea so hopefully that will work out.  In the meantime, we have been doing Zoom meetings with the students so they can become familiar with Ivan.  We still have some kinks to work out- he slept through the last meeting- but we are hopeful.

What's What- Service, Emotional Support & Therapy

It is very important that you, as the dogs handler and everyone else involved, understands the difference between service, emotional support and therapy dogs.  They are very different and all have different uses.  Here is a really good article from AKC about the three types of dogs.  I summarized the article below but it is still worth the read.

Service Dogs 

These dogs are trained to work with someone with a disability.  A disability can be physical, mental, sensory, educational or psychiatric according to the ADA-Americans with Disabilities Act.  These dogs can be trained to detect epileptic seizures, guide someone that is blind, help someone in a wheelchair and many other tasks.  Service dogs are not limited to where they can go in public-they are allowed anywhere and must be permitted in housing regardless of the pet policy.  They are exempt from airline fees but they do have to follow the rules of the airlines regarding service animals.

Emotional Support ESA

In order for an animal to be considered ESA, it must be prescribed by a mental health professional because the person has a mental condition.  The animal is trained to aid person with a mental disability.  They are not service animals but rather companion animals that help ease the stress of a person with a mental/psychological disability.  ESAs do not have unlimited access to public places or on airplanes but the person needs to carry a letter from their doctor to prove the need for the animal.  These animals do have rights under the Fair Housing Act to have accommodations made for them in housing that wouldn't normally allow pets.

Therapy Dogs

Therapy dogs are different than service or emotional support animals.  They are part of a team rather than serving their handler.  The team volunteers in places like hospitals, schools, libraries, hospice and other places to bring comfort and love to the people in those environments.  A therapy dog should be calm and not easily upset by new environments, loud noises or unsteady people.  Therapy dogs have very few rights for entering public places.  It is the job of the handler to know where the dog is welcome or check with the establishment before bringing the dog.  The team should also be insured which is usually part of the therapy registration with an AKC recognized therapy dog organization.  

Something to keep in mind when bringing your dog into public places- always ask or look for a sticker on the establishment that says they are dog friendly. We have an outdoor shopping area close to us and I just recently noticed that many of the stores have stickers on their doors saying they welcome dogs.  This is an area where we are practicing "greeting a friendly stranger" because we know we are welcome in many of the stores.  

Another aspect not really discussed in the article is for the handler to be ready to explain the difference between the three types of animals.  People often mistakenly identify a therapy dog as a service dog and it is important to politely correct/educate them.  Ivan is a big fluffy Goldendoodle so I often say he is a "big fluffy stress ball" that brings happiness and love wherever he goes.  His job is to be a pal and bring love.

The article also talks about the AKC Canine Good Citizen program which is something Ivan is working towards.  He can't test for it until he is a year old but we are already working on all the different parts required for him.  Many of the things he needs to pass for the CGC are the same things required to pass to become registered as a therapy dog.  His current trainer is an AKC CGC evaluator so he is helping us work towards it.

Sources

Reisen, Jan. “Service Dogs, Emotional Support Dogs, Therapy Dogs: What's the Difference?”                     American Kennel Club, 31 July 2019, https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/lifestyle/service-                  emotional-support-ptsd-therapy-difference/?                                                                                            utm_medium=email&utm_source=shop&utm_campaign=20190901_shp_service-dog-                        month_article&utm_term=20190901_shp_service-dog-month.